Tuesday, January 1, 2008

(I've discussed this twicebefore)There's a number of games that are good enough to get pulled out everyyear. For recent releases, this isn't saying much, so let's look at those that have been played in at least 7 out of the past 11 years.

10 out of 11

RoboRally. This has been played every year, except I missed in 2004. This is the game that really got me into board gaming.

Call my Bluff. This still gets played every year, going on 10 years since I discovered it.

9 out of 9

Basari. This was a wedding present and while it doesn't get a ton of play (only 13 plays) it gets pulled out consistently, year after year.

Ra. One of my all time favorites, and I expect it to stay on the 100% list for a while.

Apples to Apples. A party game that is successful with all but the most curmudgeonly.

8 out of 8

Medici. One of the greatest "pure" auction games ever.

Can't Stop. It's quick and approachable and likely to stay on the list for a long time.

Speed. At 60ish seconds per game, I make sure to play this on New Years' Eve if I haven't already that year.

6 nimmt!. Another regular winner, in no small part due to its effective accomodation of 6 players.

Igel Argern. Fast fun filler.

Battle Line. One of my favorite 2-player games of all time.

8 out of 9 or more

Ricochet Robot and Samurai both somehow missed 2006, but have been played the other 8 of the last 9 years.

En Garde missed 2006 and 2004, but I've been playing it since 1998, so it makes the 8+ list.

Euphrat & Tigris has been missing the past couple of years and it will hopefully hit the table again in 2008, but for whatever reason I have not had the same yen for it I have in the past and while it had a good 8 year streak, it looks like 2006's omission wasn't just a fluke.

7+ out of the past 11

The 100% club for the past 7 years is: Knockabout, For Sale, Zirkus Flohcati, Crokinole, Princes of Florence, Electronic Catchphrase.

7 out of the past 8: Carcassonne, Cartagena, Flinke Pinke and missed this year for the first time: Vinci, Traumfabrik, Lord of the Rings.

Take It Easy had a 7 year streak from 1999-2005 and hasn't come back since, but it's likely to be back in 2008.

Set has been intermittent, missing 1999, 2001, 2004, and 2005, but being one of the "old" games, it's gotten to 7.

Overall, I continue to like the "year metric" and the "MonthMetric" as measures of gaming quality and longevity.

Last year, I did my personal "game of the year" for several categories, and I'll do it again:

Light Game/Filler

Factory Fun

This may be skirting the line of what constitutes light/filler. If you think it's over the line, the award should instead go to Felix: Cat in the Sack, and the honorable mention to Toppo.

2-player game

Race for the Galaxy

Race is sufficiently exceptional it does deserve the two awards itgets here. No other 2-player stood out this year, but classicfavorites Blue Moon and Knockabout deserve honorable mentions.

Kids/Family

Go Away Monster!

Of the 27 games I played with my 3-year-old, 11 of them were thisgame, making it a clear winner. Her and my other favorites in thisare include Monza and Who Lives Where?. Zof imHuhnerhof also gets an honorable mention for being really neat.

Eurogame

Race for the Galaxy

Unambiguous and amazing. This game is likely to rapidly ascend to top-10 of all-time status. Honorable mention: Notre Dame

Groups Breakdown

Bi-weekly gaming group 25% of games played 34% of titles played* 20% of sessions 17% of opponentsGathering 21% of games played 25% of titles played* 9% of sessions played (each day counted separately) 38% of opponents*Gaming at work 8% of games played 11% of games played* 12% of sessions 18% of opponents*Gaming at home 13% of games played 10% of titles played* 38% of sessions 5% of opponents*UG Semi-annual Events 8% of games played 12% of titles played* 3% of sessions 12% of opponents

* Percentages could add up to more than 100, since the same title/opponents can occur in different groups

Top Opponents

Of the top 25 opponents (by number of games) 10 are regular attendees of the bi-weekly group 4 live in California 3 are other local gamers (not attendees of the bi-weekly group) 2 are family members 2 are co-workers 1 each from NY, WA, PA and TX

Personal

Professional

I am a Engineering Director at Google. My team and I work on Search.

Previously, I was the CTO at an 802.11 location and security company, Newbury Networks in Boston. In June, 1999 I received my Masters degree from the MIT Media Lab. I graduated from MIT (undergraduate) in June, 1997, in physics. Prior to that I was CTO of net.Genesis from 1994 to 1996.